


The Art of Surrender (Without Submission)

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Highlander, Sanctuary (TV), Stargate SG-1
Genre: GFY, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-30
Updated: 2011-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-25 02:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It begins with a choice, as all things do. And it ends with a decision, though perhaps not the same as the beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Surrender (Without Submission)

All the elegance is stripped from them; tailored clothing left discarded on the floor, a wine glass abandoned on the hearth, another on the vanity. Raw emotion, spent, blankets them as heavily as the duvet while they curl together. His head against her shoulder, legs tangled together, her arms curved protectively around him.

~ ~~ ~

Older than time, he's long ago learned to see his lifetime and himself as two separate things. Even a lifetime that spans a millennium. Allow himself to become all the younger wants, to be the monster in the dark that all men fear. On his knees, offering his body and his skill. Enjoying the time until it's over, but never giving himself.

~ ~~ ~

Here, she isn't part of a team, isn't a soldier, isn't a scientist. She's still strong, still proud and stubborn and unwilling to bow down. To offer her freedom, her body, and her pleasure, this she can do. The price she'll pay to protect those she loves, but still on her terms. If he wants her, he'll take what she gives him.

~ ~~ ~

They understand how hard it is for him merely to come to them, and though he gives his life and safety over to them, he doesn't give them more. Nor would they ask it of him - this is enough, and he's already had to endure the bending of knee, of neck, and of pride. They've all grown beyond the need for petty games anyway.

* * *

His throat, bared to the blade, genuine in his offer of his life, his power. Let the finality of all things catch up to him, give all he might to the child that the child might live. Child too honorable to take what he offers, and he lives to offer more pieces of those he's been.

~ ~~ ~

Arms open, he bares his soul to the darkness. Let it take him, and leave those his heart loves to live. Yet he cannot allow the darkness to subsume him, cannot let go that last piece of his honor. Flee, then, and find oblivion rather than allow the his heart's blood stain his hands, or even the blood of those she protects.

~ ~~ ~

She may never have fought before the end, but when she'd given all she could to those who would win, she hadn't expected more than their scorn for her patience before. Here, though, she finds her acceptance of the outcome before it was entirely certain given respect. Given protection by one of their golden girls, with no demand in return but the loyalty she has already offered.

~ ~~ ~

He knows his body and his mind will never again be entirely his own, and welcomes his god into him. Offers him everything, and is granted all he could wish in return. Power in return for power, the universe for their taking when all is shared, neither beaten down by the other.

* * *

All she is screams for his death, and yet she listens to the words of a man a fraction of her age. Allows his will, allows his desire. Not as she would the monster at her feet when she was but a child thinking herself a woman, a slave thinking herself powerful. Never again subsuming her will to another, merely allowing them not to be subsumed in hers.

~ ~~ ~

It is the hardest lesson she's learned in her life. To bend to what she must to achieve what she seeks to, to learn it isn't cowardice or a failure of self. Ruthlessness applied to the self as much as others.

~ ~~ ~

He cannot let go without a fight, it's not in his nature. No more than letting a puzzle lie unsolved, to not see the details that all others miss or ignore. Yet when it comes, he finds himself able to go with grace, if not dignity. Not giving up, as his younger self had felt, but seizing the next adventure in both hands.

~ ~~ ~

Better him than the others, and he knows he has to do this now or risk another of his team taking his place. Allow his mind to be stripped of all that holds him to this world, for his body to be overwhelmed by what it cannot hold. His death for their lives, and though they might still save him, it is a price he's more than willing to pay.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this is entirely finished, but it is finished for now. The characters were deliberately left unnamed. And if anyone wants to take a snippet and make use of it, they're welcome to it.
> 
>  **Fandom Key:**  
>  Set 1 - Sanctuary, Highlander, Stargate SG1, Harry Potter  
> Set 2 - Highlander, Sanctuary, Harry Potter, Stargate SG1  
> Set 3 - Highlander, Harry Potter, Sanctuary, Stargate SG1


End file.
